Episode IIIV:The Birth of a Child
by Pandora North Star
Summary: Sequel to Episode III: the Coming of the Slayer. Buffy and Obi Wan, along with the other Scoobies set off to ensure the safety of a baby- (babies?) and of a galaxy. More all the time!
1. Prologue

Title:Episode 3.5: The Birth of A Child  
Author: PNS*  
Summary: This is the sequel to Episode 3: The Coming of the Slayer. I don't promise to finish it but I was stuck on my other stories and bored one night so I decided to start a sequel and see where it went. PS. My Star Wars knowledge is a bit rusty.  
Rating: PG-13/R  
  
When he had left Coruscant the Jedi order had been disbanded, scattered across the world, much the way the Republic had been weakened. It was still shocking how blind they had been in the years leading up to the Wars and the role that their most trusted allies had played, betraying them in the end.  
  
Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi raked his hands through his longish hair and turned his gaze from the star filled sky to the girl sitting on the bed tying her sneakers. Buffy glanced up at him briefly with a fading smile. This world seemed so small to him, refreshing and different after all he'd seen, but still just as dangerous. It was remarkable how similar life was in the universe, despite the variety of exteriors. All living things had the same wants, needs, and desires.   
  
At the moment all Obi Wan could think about was that he wanted to loose himself in a night long love session with his partner, his teacher and his ally in this strange world, but there were other things that needed to be done first. As warriors they both understood this.   
  
When she was finished tying her shoes she picked up a wooden stake and he grabbed his lightsaber. She shook her blond head, and he knew that she still didn't completely trust his technologically advanced weapon.   
  
"A wooden stake will never malfunction on you," Buffy quiped as the exited the house.   
  
"You have a point." Obi Wan grinned, his dimples noticeable through his trimmed beard. "Point. Get it?"  
  
"I get it." Buffy rolled her eyes. The man might appear to be one of the most confident and wise people for his age but let him crack a joke and he dissolves. It had taken him a long time to develop his sense of humor once he had come to earth. As a Jedi warrior, keeper of intergalactic peace he hadn't had a whole lot of experience with emotion. The experiences were all new to him. Love, hate, sorrow, he had kept himself from them all his life, because to be a successful warrior was to be above temptation, or so he thought.  
  
"Are we looking for anything particular tonight?" The question was poised casually but with an undertone of tension. He might have been a warrior for an intergalactic republic but she was a descendant of a long line of naturally gifted warriors of the Force, and because of that she was trustworthy.  
  
"The usual patrol," Buffy answered, just as casually. In the months they had spent together they had learned fascinating things about the universe, the truth about good and evil, and most importantly about the Force, the creator of all matter. It was the way of life. It had many names, good, evil, magick, miracles, but it was all the same thing.   
  
Buffy had a habit of staring up at the sky when they patrolled the small town of Sunnydale. It was as if she was suspicious of another ship coming down to earth and snatching her up to be part of an intergalactic war. Obi Wan didn't blame her. But maybe it was something more. Obi Wan knew she was more in tune with the Force than he was, and with his coaching she had become almost as powerful as Jedi Master Yoda.  
  
"I feel something." Buffy bit her lip.   
  
"Danger?" Obi Wan reached for his lightsaber, prepared to wield it at a moment's notice.   
  
"Hey Buffy," A familiar voice said just as a short young man stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"Oz?"  
  
"Surprise." 


	2. Part 1

The Birth of a Child  
Part 1  
  
They sat down in the living room of Buffy's house, and no one said anything for awhile. It was a bit of a shock for Buffy to see Oz, whom she hadn't seen for three years. Many things had changed since he had left Sunnydale, the main one being that his first love and her former best friend was dead.  
  
"What brings you back to Sunnydale?"  
  
"An epiphany I had when I was in Tibet."  
  
"You went back to Tibet?"  
  
"I liked it there." The conversation was trite, clipped and empty. The house seemed too quiet, even though Buffy knew Dawn was upstairs sleeping.   
  
"Oz," Buffy started. All she had to say was his name, just the way she said it, he knew something was wrong.  
  
"Where's Willow?"  
  
"She died a few months ago." Buffy looked down at her hands and then to Obi Wan. She wrinkled her brow, struggling not to cry. He understood her pain, it had kept her up during the precious few hours she had to sleep every night, for the past few months.   
  
"How?" His voice was choked, he was remembering her last words to him. "I'll always be waiting." Why wasn't she there?  
  
"It's hard to explain." Buffy bit her lip. It really was hard to explain. "Do you believe in life elsewhere Oz?" Out of all people Oz was one person who took things as they came.  
  
"Aliens are possible."  
  
"What about whole other galaxies of people and creatures and republics."  
  
"Republics?" His brow raised and Buffy could see the tears in the corners of his eyes. She had never actually seen him cry but this was the closest he'd come.   
  
"Oz, this is Obi Wan Kenobi, one of the last Jedi warriors keepers of the peace, employees of the Galactic Republic, last stationed on the planet Coruscant." Oz looked for the laughter behind Buffy's voice but found none of it. She was as serious as death. "Willow died during the Clone Wars. But she died nobly." How could Buffy ever explain all the things leading up to Willow's death. Could Oz picture the ruthless vindictive thing that Willow had become? Should he have to? "She died trying to protect me."  
  
"Who killed her?"Buffy could sense the wolf just below the surface, provoked at the thought that anything would harm Willow, let alone kill her.  
  
"He's dead, it doesn't matter now."  
  
"so why dredge it up?" He growled, low, and Buffy felt frightened. after all she had seen she knew that the people who did the most damage were the ones that knew you the best.  
  
"I thought you should know Oz. It was you who came back."   
  
"I'm sorry." He seemed to sense what he had done to her and withdrew. The fire in his eyes dulled and he looked weary and small. Buffy had never thought of Oz as small after she had seen him as a werewolf. "So, aliens?"  
  
Once the barrier had broken a small memory of the past filtered into the conversation and the tension between the old friends melted. Buffy caught Oz up to speed, explaining all that had happened to her and his other old friends. He even listened to the stories about Willow and Tara with a certain sense of wounded male pride and male intrigue.  
  
When she had finished it was in the early hours. Oz sank back into his seat, his eyes resting on Obi Wan Kenobi.  
  
"You still seem familiar to me for some reason. I'd say I saw you in a movie but since you aren't from earth that probably isn't it." Obi Wan smiled.  
  
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like. There's an extra room upstairs. Willow."  
  
"I'll stay on the couch tonight. I don't know about tomorrow. I live life from day to day."  
  
"I understand." Buffy smiled and motioned for Obi Wan to follow. Oz didn't care much for blankets or anything, he flopped down on the couch and was fast asleep before they hit the top of the stairs.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder how much about your past you haven't told me." Obi Wan's tone was light but Buffy sensed a certain amount of indignity there.  
  
"Some things you don't want to know." Her tone was firm and final. With that they fell in to bed together, the dredged up pain fueling their passion for each other. As a human Obi Wan, like Riley, had more of an understanding for a human girl, but beyond Riley he had more of a knowledge of the darkness and pain of life that Riley had never understood in Buffy.  
  
Obi Wan was asleep but something was keeping Buffy awake. She got out of bed without disturbing the Jedi Master and took a seat by the window. The sun was almost up. She could see the barest rays just below the horizon, straining to rise. It amazed her every morning when the sun came up. It meant that evil hadn't taken over and she was still alive.  
  
Then she felt it. The Force rushed through her like a wind. A strange and wonderful feeling. Obi Wan shot up in bed. He had felt it too.  
  
"Master, what was that?" It wasn't a kinky name or anything, but for awhile Buffy had been under Obi Wan's tutalage and still called him that from time to time.  
  
"There are very few things that can cause a surge like that in the Force." Obi Wan stoof up, grabbing for his pants.  
  
"Explain."  
  
"It had to have been Padme."  
  
"You don't mean?..."  
  
"I think it is." 


	3. Part 2

Episode 3.5: The Birth of a Child  
Part 2  
  
Buffy never got much sleep, but not having any was wearing her down. As soon as they had felt the Force they had gone back downstairs and called up Xander and Anya. Xander had felt it also. Dawn came downstairs when she heard the commotion. They had to explain to Oz what they thought was happening. He was unsurprisingly pleasant and casual about it.  
  
"So are you gonna go back to this planet?"   
  
"That's the thing," Buffy started, gazing towards Obi Wan before addressing Oz again. "We aren't sure if it's wise, or even possible."  
  
"The remaining knights have dispersed throughout the galaxy. It might be dangerous to contact them now." Obi Wan's brow crinkled the way it always did when he was thinking serious thoughts.  
  
"The Empire?" They nodded.   
  
"I wonder if she had a boy or a girl," Buffy pondered. "I wonder if it will have the power of Anakin? We did feel the ripple in the Force."  
  
"May it not be so tempted," Obi Wan said darkly. Deep down inside he was the most hurt of all, he had been training Anakin for ten years and to be betrayed like that, without reason, he had been Obi Wan's one true friend in the world.Before Buffy. She smiled tiredly at him.  
  
"I'm sure it won't be."  
  
****************************************************************************  
Padme felt all alone in the world. Except for her two children. Yes. Two. Luke and Leia. Perfect little twins. The rested nearby in a pair of old old fashioned baby cradles. Most things on Alderaan were ancient. It was part of their passive culture. They drifted through space, a peaceful planet.  
  
As she got up from the bed, slowly, she was still sore, she thought of Anakin. Where was he now? What was he doing? What was he feeling? She had seen what the dark side of the Force could do to a person but it was hard to picture that happening to her Ani.She had met him when he was barely ten years old and he had been the sweetest boy, but then he had turned into the most distraught and angry young man.  
  
"Oh Ani," Padme moaned, picking up one of the children. The baby made a few small noises. "Luke," Padme said the name softly, as if it could comfort her. The blond infant looked up at her with startling blue eyes. He was perfect in her eyes. He had never cried. In the short amount of time she had known him he had never been anything but silent and observant. "A child of the Force. Ready to be a Jedi," Padme said bitterly. "Not you if I can help it. You'll stay far away from that as long as I'm alive." The Jedi had destroyed her life, ruined her hopes and dreams, but now they lay with these two children, may they grow up away from the reach of the Empire.  
  
"Away, somewhere away," Padme rocked the child in her arms, a thought forming.  
  
****************************************************************************  
It was nights like this that Anakin woke, and he remembered things. But they were like dreams to him. Dreams that he didn't want to remember. Dreams of another life, one where he was happy-no. He had never been happy. But he had been learning how to deal with his unhappiness.  
  
He looked down at his metallic hand, the pale light of the triple moons of Geonosis glinting off it. How he hated it. Sometimes he felt that the cold metal was seeping elsewhere inside him, numbing him to the world. Darth Sidious had told him it would happen. He lay back down and closed his eyes.   
  
"I am the power, I am the Force," The mantra had come to Anakin when he had first been thrust into the hands of the Dark side, but now it was his prayer. "I make my own destiny."  
  
****************************************************************************  
"Unclear it is at the moment, soon, soon happen will things. Unfold will things." Yoda rocked back and forth in the stillness of his hut on Dagobah. Each day was a day for meditation and connection with the Force. The closer he became the more he could sense without ever having to leave the comforting forest. He was close to becoming part of the forest it seemed, the green of his skin matching the green dense swamp. 


	4. Part 3

The Birth of a Child  
Part 3  
  
"So we wait." Buffy nodded.   
  
"It's all we can do." She held the coffee in her hands, twisting the mug around and around.  
  
"I wonder what's happening with the war? Did any of the Jedi survive?" Obi Wan looked around the circle of his new friends. Most of the time on earth it was easy to forget the rest of the Galaxy, they got so caught up in the battle against earthly evil. "Mace Windu. Master Yoda?"  
  
"I'm sure you'd know," Buffy assured him.  
  
"So I have a question. Since I've been studying meditation and control with the monks have I actually been studying how to control the Force?" Buffy and Obi Wan exchanged glances.   
  
"Absolutely."  
  
"Just checking." Oz nodded to himself. The room was silent for a minute.  
  
"I can't stand this waiting!" Xander stood up. "We need to do something."  
  
"Do what Xander?" Buffy snapped."We don't have any ideas."   
  
"You know, you've been a lot meaner since Willow and Spike died." Everyone in the room felt the sting of Dawn's words. She glared at her sister. It was the truth. Like the time she had died and then been reborn Buffy had drawn away from those closest to her. Obi Wan had never known the Buffy before death and he wondered what it would be like to meet her.   
  
Dawn stood up and stalked out of the room. "Do you both feel this way too? I can't help who I am." Buffy couldn't even look Xander and Anya in the eyes. They looked between each other and she knew their answer. "God, what's wrong with me," Buffy sank down into an armchair with a sob. Obi Wan jerked his head towards the door and the pair left.  
  
"Sometimes it's easier to live as the warrior and not as the person," Obi Wan said sympathetically.  
  
"Spike said something similar once." Over the period of time they had known each other Buffy had given Obi Wan bits and pieces of her past but had yet to explain much of what went through her mind day after day, all the countless memories of darker days still hovering so close to her heart.   
  
"I love you."Obi Wan bent down and kissed Buffy on the top of her head, his beard tickling her forehead. It was still strange to her to feel his furry face after Angel and Spike, and even Riley. It was comforting in a way, he was the complete opposite of her bestial vampire lovers. And it had been great having him by her side when she woke up with nightmares about the death of Willow but what could she give him?  
  
"You give me peace." Buffy wrinkled her brow, surprised.  
  
"A moment of clarity,: Obi Wan explained micheviously. How she gave him peace she did not understand but it was enough for the moment.   
****************************************************************************  
"Alderaan isn't safe. It's too close to the emerging Empire and the war. I need to go farther away, where they haven't heard of the Republic or the Empire or The Force."  
  
"What do you mean Senator?" Bail Organa, head of the royal family of Alderaan and also Senator of Alderaan had taken in Padme when Anakin had deflected to the dark side and was her loyal companion. "You don't believe that Anakin will come for you here? Alderaan is a peaceful harmless planet."  
  
"I have no way of knowing. I am not endowed with the powers of the Force as Anakin is, I only have a mother's instinct. And it is telling me that darker days are coming."   
  
"If you feel that way I will support your decision."  
  
"You are a good friend, Senator."  
  
"When would you like to leave? I will have a ship ready for you as soon as possible."  
  
"Yes. That would be great." Padme nodded her head fervently. "Senator, do you have any way of contacting my allies on earth?"  
  
****************************************************************************  
"Welcome my son," Palpatine indicated a seat in the chamber for Anakin to sit on. His shaded face showed no touch of emotion.  
  
"I am no man's son," Anakin reminded the man fiercly. The man smiled a cold and wicked smile.   
  
"Of course you aren't." He turned away from Anakin to the window that displayed the rocky wasteland terrain of Geonosis. "Did you sleep well?" Anakin grimaced. Of course the man tried to bring out the worst in him. That was the point.  
  
"What would you have me do?"  
  
"We have word that Mace Windu, one of the last surviving Jedi has been found on a planet on the outskirts of the Empire. He is trying to recruit rebels. See that you fix this problem. And quickly."   
  
"Sir."   
  
"One day everything will be yours. You can hold the power in your hands." Anakin licked his lips. It was like he was electrically charged and he only felt good when the power was turned on, and in this case the Dark Side of the Force, untainted and undiluted as it had been when he was a Jedi. How naive the Jedi were. They were shutting out most of their power by cutting off emotions. Hate.  
  
Anakin hated the man before him, hated him with all his life. Hated him for his twisted double personalities and scheming mind. And yet, he was this man's protege. Such is the way of the world. 


	5. Part 4

The Birth of a Child   
Part 4  
Yuzira-Love the comments. Always.  
  
****************************************************************************  
Sleep was as evasive as a snowflake in summer. It didn't seem to be happening this morning. Buffy felt like she had just closed her eyes when a strange sound started to blare in the quiet air. She opened her eyes, alerting her body.  
  
"Where did I put it?" Obi Wan was running back and forth across the room in his faded jeans and sneakers looking quite frazzled.  
  
"What's making that noise?" Buffy yelped putting her hands over her ears.  
  
"My communicator."  
  
"I thought you didn't have one."  
  
"It's only a simple one way one. The only person who can contact me is Padme." Buffy surpressed a scream and slapped Obi Wan off the side of the head as he ran past.   
  
"You failed to mention this as we were fretting and worrying- what two hours ago?"  
  
"You asked me if we could contact her! WE can't! I left this to her as a last resort. When we felt the Force I didn't think she was in trouble." Buffy closed her eyes and tried to neutralize her anger. No big deal just a miscommunication.  
  
"So what good would it do? You said we have no way of getting there."  
  
"Who said anything about leaving earth?" Obi Wan paused and then dove into Buffy's closet. She fell backwards onto the bed as he came up triumphantly. "I knew it was here somewhere." The offensive sound stopped and a hologram popped up into the room.  
  
"Obi Wan, I'm coming to Earth. Don't worry, because I know you do. Anakin hasn't come after me but I would feel safer away from the Empire. Luke, Leia and I should be there soon. I have the coordinates." The hologram disappeared leaving a stunned Buffy and Obi Wan. They looked at each other.  
  
"Luke?"  
  
"Leia?"  
****************************************************************************  
The planet Androsik was not one Anakin would haver ever picked for a Jedi to hide out in. It was primative but bustling, Coruscant a long time ago. Of course, because he was hiding out he would want to be secretive and not obvious. Obvious would be hiding out in Dagoba or something, a perfect place for a Jedi to tune him or herself to the Force.  
  
Anakin's lip rolled backwards in a sneer. It would be a fun challenge finding Mace Windu. He had never liked the man personlly, he had always found him to be arrogant and bossy. But then again so had Obi Wan, but Obi Wan always seemed to have Anakin's best interest at heart, save for the end. In the end he fell apart.  
  
Anakin was used to seeing the clone armies hanging around conquered planets lately, but this planet was so far at the edge of the burgeoning empire that it hadn't been bothered to post clones on the planet yet. They were just a hinderance anyways.  
  
When the ship had landed Anakin had hunted up what could be called a primative land speeder, the thing barely hovered. Oh well, his pent up irritation would eventually be taken out on the Jedi. When he had read the alien at the bar in the central city he was tipped off that Mace Windu was not in the big city but a couple hours away in a a smaller city.  
  
Away from his Master Anakin could still feel the pulse of the Dark Side. It was like a second heartbeat. But it was also fuzzy and sporadic, only beating to remind him of the power of the midichlorians that made up his body. How they would love to get some of his power. All of them. But they could never be him and so they never would.   
  
The city where Mace Windu was hiding was a run down city, a more urban version of places on Tatooine. Anakin could feel the other Jedi when it was just on the horizon. As he drew closer he could sense the fear and anger and struggles going on inside the older Jedi. So the man had been tempted recently. It brought a smile to Anakin's lips.   
  
He drove the land speeder towards the city, letting the feelings of the miserable place wash over him. These people were sad. Why would a Jedi be here?   
  
He found his answer at the heart of the place, amidst the rubble and shade of the towering building skeletons. He got off the land speeder and pulled out his light saber. He would never be the best with it, he knew that. He looked around. There was no one else around. The building in front of him was tall and gray. He pulled his black cloak off, leaving it on the landspeeder, folding it in a disturbingly neat fashion.   
  
The Jedi Master was sitting in one corner on a blanket. A few necessities were scattered around him. His eyes were closed. They opened slowly as Anakin entered.   
  
"I knew you were coming." The Jedi Master acknowledged him in a slow meandering tone that spoke of a lack of fear.   
  
"Guess you spoiled the surprise then."  
  
"I guess," Mace Windu said without any actual remorse.   
  
"This place do a lot for your well being? Put you in touch with the Force doesn't it?" Anakin mocked. A casual smile brightened the dark face of the man before him.   
  
"Come young one. It is time you learned the power of the Force." A purple light blazed from beneath the man's cloak a moment before it fell away. Anakin smiled at the familiar tan outfit that bedecked the older man. He would teach him the Force would he?  
  
The clash of light sabers echoed in the empty building. It had been a popular place once, and now it was forgotten, as one day the Jedi order would be. The flashes of red and purple made Anakin a bit dizzy but he kept it up. One good thing about a metal hand was that it didn't get tired. Pieces of the building collapsed around them as the battle raged. He hadn't been in anything like this since the beginning of the Wars. That seemed so long ago. How easy one forgot great adversaries.  
  
"You will never win. Darkness will not prevail." The Jedi Master's arm was shaking. Anakin could feel the fear thick, like sweat, in the air.  
  
"Then I will settle for a small win now." Anakin twisted his body, drawing up the power of the Force inside him, he spun around and when the Jedi Master jumped to miss the blow Anakin sliced downward, catching the Jedi Master off guard.  
  
The dark eyes widened as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Like a flame being snuffed out Anakin could sense the death of the Jedi Master as he crumbled at Anakin's feet. He turned off his light saber and left the building, leaving the body without letting it burn, sacriligious to the Jedi. An evil smile plastered itself on his face as he turned the landspeeder around to return to the main city of Androsik. 


End file.
